Electrical slide fastener connector



R. W. AVERY ELECTRICAL SLIDE FASTENER CONNECTOR March 10, 1959 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 22, 1953 6 w 2 Y R m w M E 4 y I 5 "Wm": V aa 3 P mm m A a m u 4 w 2 HH m R n W mRm March 10, 1959 R. w. AVERY2,877,439

ELECTRICAL SLIDE FASTENER CONNECTQR Filed Sept. 22, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet2 B E B' ATTORNEY March 10, 1959 Filed Sept. 22, 1953 R. W. AVERYELECTRICAL SLIDE FASTENER CONNECTOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR 4 SQBERTw. AVERY ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,877,439 ELECTRICAL SLIDEFASTENER CONNECTOR Robert W. Avery, Vestal Center, N. Y., assignor toBurroughs Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of MichiganApplication September 22, 1953, Serial No. 381,623 3 Claims. (Cl.339-151) This invention relates to electrical connectors andparticularly to an improved electrical connector employing the principleof the slide fastener.

Various electrical and electronic apparatus is designed in multipleunits so that they may be electrically disconnected for repairs,replacement or test purposes as desired. The units are arranged so thatit is advantageous in many types of equipment to disconnect one circuitfrom another without unsoldering or unscrewing a number of terminals.Therefore, provisions must be made for making the required electricalconnection between the removable part and its associated equipment.

The electrical connection has usually been made in the past bymulti-contact plugs having male and female members, associated withmulti-conductor cables. There are several disadvantages incident to suchconnections.

The plurality of contacts for the multi-conductor cables are usuallylocated within a small area and large capacitances between the contactsnecessarily result, the plug pressure necessary to make the connectionalso increases with the number of contacts and along with the probabilities of misalignment, and the initial cost of maintaining manufacturingtolerances between contacts. These disadvantages necessarily limit thenumber of contacts per connector. Accordingly, a multiple contactelectrical connector is desired that is easily connected anddisconnected and physically arranged so that it will minimize theproblems of inter-conductor capacitances and tolerances withoutseriously limiting the number of contacts per connector.

This inventiton overcomes the disadvantages of these prior artconnectors by adapting the slide fastener used on apparel, et cetera,for an electrical connector. The fastener elements are arranged in twoopposed rows which are brought together and the elements overlappinglyinterlocked one another by movement of a sliding member in one directionand disengaged from one another when the member is moved in the oppositedirection. The fastener elements are insulatively mounted on supportingmedia or panels and certain of the elements are joined by electric leadsto form electrical contacts. Such elements are alternated withelectrically insulated elements. The interconnection of the fastenerelements is made with a minimum of force upon operation of the sliderwhich causes the corresponding elements to be brought together andinterlockingly engaged with one another. By spreading the elements overa large area the capacitance between the elements on the connector areminimized. This arrangement results in a relatively inexpensive flexibleconnector devoid of the disadvantages of the prior art connectors. Theconnector can be further adapted to operate as a switch as well as aconnector by the use of an insulating material for the slider.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to providean improvedelectrical connector.

It is another object of the invention to provide an iment invention willbe found 2,877,439 Patented Mar. 10, 1959 proved electrical connectoremploying the operating principle of a slide fastener.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an electricalconnector having a minimum capacitance between the conductive elements.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an electricalconnector so arranged as to have easily accessible connector terminals.

It is another object of the invention to provide an electrical connectoradapted for use both as a switch and an electrical connector.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an electricalconnector whereby electrical leads may be connected or disconnected uponpartial operation of the connector.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, there is,therefore, provided an electrical connector, operating on the slidefastener principle of interconnecting elements, wherein the elements ofthe slide fastener are made up of alternate groups of conducting andinsulating elements physically spread over a large area so as tominimize interaction between the connector terminals whereby said leadsare readily connected and disconnected upon operation of the slidefastener.

Other objects and features of advantage of the presthroughout thefollowing more detailed description of the invention particularly whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of tion;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the starting end section of the connector showndisconnected;

Fig. 3 is a partial section view partly broken away of a group ofinterconnected elements as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the interconnected elements as shown in Fig.3;

Fig. 5 is a front view ing the invention;

Fig. 6 is a front view of single units adapted to be interconnected bythe invention;

Fig. 7 is a plan view showing multi-conductor cables interconnected bythe invention;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of another embodiment utilizing the invention; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view, partly in cross section, taken along theline 99 of Fig. 8 showing the connector disconnected.

The invention utilizes the principle of the slide fastener and includestwo rows of inter-engaging elements which are locked into engagementwhen a slide member is moved in one direction an embodiment of theinvenshowing multiple units employing assemblies it comprises two rows12 and 14 of interlocking elements which are brought together in aninterleaving manner and locked into engagement with one another when aslide member 16 is moved in one direction and unlocked and disengagedfrom one another when the slide member is moved in the oppositedirection. The slider 16 may be provided with the conventional pull-tabhandle 18 for manually adjusting the same along the rows.

Each row of the slide fastening assembly is formed of elements 20 ofelectrically conducting material and elements 22 of electricallyinsulating material. Row 12 is fixed to a member or panel 24 ofinsulating material, and row 14 is fixed to a similar panel 26.Preferably,

the material of which the panels are formed is also sufficientlyflexible to permit successive engagement and disengagement of theelements.

The conductingelements 20 are arranged opposite one another in theirrespective 'rows for interengagement when the slider is movedinfastening direction and thus serve as disengageable electricalcontacts. In each row the insulating elements ZZ are arranged onopposite sides of the electrical contact elements and insulate thelatter from one another in the same row.

The contact elements 20 of one row are arranged opposite a companioncontact element of the other row for overlapping interengagement whenthe rows are joined by the slider 16. Preferably these contact elementsare arranged in a pattern which would be sufiicient for most of thegeneral applications for whichth e connector is designed. Certain of theelectrical-contact elements of eachrow may be grouped'together in sideby side relation such as indicated by 20a, 20b, 200 shown in Fig. 1.These grouped contact elements are connected together by a commonelectrical conductor 28 as hereinafter described which enables theconnector assembly 10 to be used in high current circuits'simultaneouslywith low current circuits.

Electrical leads are provided which run from one or more of the contactelements 20 of the slide fastener for connection to electrical circuitryor sources of electrical energy. To facilitate attachment of such leads,it is preferred to make the elements 20 longer than the insulatedelements 22 and project them rearwardly further than the latter. Asshown near thetop of Fig. l a separate lead 30 runs from each of the twooppositely disposed engageable electrical contact elements 20-21 Nearthebottom of Fig. 1, similar separate leads 30 run from each element 20ain the two rows of elements. The current carried by'the electricalconductor 30 is distrib uted over the conductive elements 20a, 20b, 200by the common electrical conductor28- and thereby allows for usage ofhigher current densities than possible with a single pair of conductiveelements.

The elements 20 and 22 of each row of the connector are brought togetherandinterlocked with one another by the slide member 16 as inconventional slide fastener constructions. Each elementis .provided witha transverse groove in the same plane on.each side thereof. Thegroovesof the, elements in each row are disposed in alignment as isevident in. Figs. 1 and 3. The slide member v16 has inwardly turnedoppositely disposed flanges indicated at 33 which ride in the grooves32. Each pair of fianges on .the top. andbottom side ofthe slide;- firstextend in a converging. relationthen ina parallel relation and functionin the fastening direction of travel of the slide. to draw the elements.together into interlocking engagement.

The inner ends of the elements 20 and 22 are identical and each has alaterally projecting head 34 and a recess 36 in the head which opens outthrough the base thereof. When interconnected by the slider 16, eachhead of one row enters the recess of the head of the next successiveelement of the opposite row. This forms a positive interlockingconnection as is well known in the slide fastening art. Moreover, the,arrangement will not allow the ele ments to become disengaged when therows of the connector are flexed out of a straight line position.

It is evident that upon movement of the slider 16 in one direction theconductive elements of the connector 10 will be brought into overlappingrelation and interlocked with one another in the manner shown in Fig. 3to form an electrical conhection therebetween. It is. further evidentthat upon movement of the slider in the opposite direction the elementswill become disengaged from one another breaking thev electricalconnections previously formed. To assure proper interconnection of theelements of two rows of the connector, there is provided, as shown inFigs. 1 and-2, a starting element 3?;

which does not have a recess in its head and is therefore capable ofmeshing only with the bottommost element 22 of the opposite row ofelements.

As with similar conventional slide fasteners, a stop member 40 isprovided for preventing the slider from complete dislodgement from thefastening elements and for setting the slider at its initial startingposition. The stop member is attached to a corner at the starting end ofits row of elements. In this instance it is attached to panel 24 at thelower end of its row of elements, 12. A rod-like member 42 is providedat the starting end of each row of elements. The rod for row 12 isusually permanently received in the stop member and projects thereabovefor interfitting engagement with the slider when the latter ismovedtostarting position. The rod 42, for row 14 is removably insertablethrough the upper end of the slider and thence into the stop member asin conventional practice to preset the rows of elements for slidermovement. When properly inserted, the two rods sz' -':s2win bedisposedsideby-side as shown in Fig. 1. In this position, the specialrecessless element 38 is positioned as the starting element for theslide fastening assembly. Because of its dissimilar construction,element 38 can not assume any other position and interfit with theelements of the opposite row 12, thus serves as the starting element,thereby assuring proper connection of the electrical terminal elements20.

Referring now to Figs. 5 and 6, the connector is shown associated with amultiple unit chassis to illustrate its adaptability to other electricalconnecting functions. The units of the structure may be separate panelsor box-like enclosures containing electrical equipment. The separateunits of the chassis in Fig. 5 are identified by the referencecharacters A, B, and C on one side and corresponding units A, B and C onthe other side. In the particular arrangement shown in Fig. 5, a singleconnector 43 is employed for the plurality of units. The connector isconstructed as previously described, including two rows ofinterconnecting elements 44 and 45 and a slider member 46. Each row ofelements is attached to a flexible base or strip which may be of fabricmaterial in order that the elements of the row may be readily separatedand spaced from the elements of the other row. The

flexible strip to which the row of elements 44- is attached is indicatedat 48; that for the other row of elements is indicated at 50. Like thepreviously described embodiment of the invention, the slider 46 willinterlock the rows of elements when moved in one direction and disengagethe rows of elements when moved in the opposite direc tion.

Certain of the elements of the rows 44 and 45 areformed-of electricallyconductive lmaterial and serve as the contacts for closing and openingelectrical circuits. The remaining elements in the two rows arenon-conductive. Such contacting elements are identified in Fig. 5 at 52.These electrical contact elements are arranged in their respective rowsopposite one another for interengagement with one another when theslider is moved in the fastening direction. Each contacting element 52is provided with a lead 54 extending across the fabric strip uponwhichit is mounted and into the adjacent chassis unit when it is detachablyconnected to the electrical equipment therein. In this manner,corresponding leads fromthe chassis units, may be directly attached tothe connector 43 without the necessity of harnessing them into a cableas heretofore been required in the prior art. An. added advantage ofthis construction is that one pair of units may be disconnected andremoved fromthc chassis without disconnecting the other units. This isshown in Fig. 5, wherein the top units Aand A are dis-- connected whilethe remaining units of the chassis are still connected. It is alsoclearly evident that the units may be readily disconnected and removedfor test purposes, replacement or repair.

The simplicity of the electrical connector illustrated by the twoembodiments of the invention described hereinabove is readily apparentover the prior art connectors. The force required to operate the slideris not large since the leads are connected one at a time rather than allat one time. The physical arrangement of the contacts being spread overa large area results in the number of contacts required for an averagecircuit being available at the point of utilization thereby doing awaywith the necessity of having conductors harnessed into a cable. Thisarrangement also illustrates the relatively large distance between theleads associated with the connector thereby minimizing any effect ofcrosstalk due to the capacitance between the leads. The leads arrangedin this manner are exposed as in a terminal strip so as to facilitatecircuit tracing or testing.

For applications similar to that illustrated in Fig. 5, it may be founddesirable to provide a separate connector for each pair of chassisunits. As shown in Fig. 6, this will allow the paired units, such asidentified at D and D, to be removed from its chassis assembly withoutdisconnecting the leads. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 6 the rows ofinterengaging elements are shown at 56 and 58 fixed to fabric strips 60and 62 respectively or other suitable flexible insulating material. Inthe same manner as previously described, certain of the fasteningelements, such as shown at 64, are formed of electrical conductivematerial while the remaining fastening elements 66 are formed ofelectrical insulating material. The slider 68 moves the length of thefastening track on the units D and D and limits its distance of travelto the height thereof. In this arrangement it may be advantageous toprovide the same color for the insulating fabric strips of the connectorto assure joining the proper units together.

The connector of this invention may be adapted to operate as a switch.This desirable feature may be brought about by making the slider ofinsulating material. Thus formed it is possible to interconnect theindividual units of the chassis design as shown in Fig. 5 withoutdisconnecting the power source and thereby selectively energize theunits.

Referring now to Fig. 7, the connector is shown in association withmulticonductor cables. The cables 70 and 72 have their respectiveindividual conducting strands or wires as indicated at 74 and 76respectively disconnectively joined by a slide fastener connectorgenerally indicated at 78. The slider fastener assembly is similar tothat previously described and includes oppositely disposed rows ofconducting and non-conducting elements capable of being brought intointerlocking engagement by means of the slider 80. The ease of makingthe cable connection by the use of the connector is readily apparent.

A distinctly desirable embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs. 8and 9. A supporting tubular-shaped member 82, in this case exhibiting ahollow cylindrical tube, carries a plurality of demountable circuitboards or panels arranged in a general radial disposition around themember. In Figs. 8 and 9 the tube 82 is shown with its axis extendingvertically and as having four such circuit boards. These boards areidentified by reference characters 84, 86, 88, and 90. Each circuitboard or panel is arranged to be disconnectibly coupled to thesupporting tube by means of a slide fastener of the type previouslydescribed.

The supporting tube is provided with as many vertical slots 92 throughits body as there are circuit boards. In each slot, as best shown inFig. 9, one row of slide fastener elements is positioned. Fixed to oneedge of each circuit board is a complimentary row of slide fastenerelements. The two rows of elements are composed as in the mannerpreviously described of electrical conductive elements 94 andelectrically insulated elements 96. The conducting elements of the tworows are so arranged that they are capable of engaging one another andforming an electrical connection when the board is fastened to thesupporting member. Preferably, in order means of a slider 104 similar tothose 6 to provide movement of the elements toward and away from oneanother, each row of elements is mounted on a flexible base ofinsulating material. A flexible base for the row of elements 94 isindicated at 98 and may assume thet form of a fabric strip attached tothe adjacent edge of the circuit board. The flexible base for the row ofelements in the slot of the tube is indicated at 100 and likewise mayassume the form of a fabric strip. The inner margin of the strip 100 maybe secured to the inner surface of the tube by rivets 102 or the like inthe manner shown at the right of Fig. 9.

It is also shown in Fig. 9, that the row of elements on the selectedcircuit board may be joined to the row of elements in a selected slot ofthe supporting tube 82 by previously described. Each element may beprovided with a transverse groove along its outer and inner faces asindicated at 106 which align with one another. The slider 104 isprovided with inwardly turned side flanges corresponding to flanges 33previously described, one of which is shown at- 108. These flanges ridein the grooves 106 and either draw the rows of elements intointerlocking engagement with one another to secure the circuit board tothe supporting member or separate the rows from one another to permitremoval of the board from the member.

Each circuit board may have printed circuitry thereon or provided withconducting strips. Such printed circuitry or conducting strips areindicated at 110 in Fig. 9. These conducting elements, whether printedor otherwise formed, are joined to the electrically conducting elements94 of the slide fastener row on the circuit board. When attached to thesupporting member, the circuit boards are arranged therearound in aradial fan-like manner as shown in Fig. 8, which provides a compact yetflexible disconnectable unit for purposes of test, replacement andrepair. To electrically connect these circuit board to one another, theinterior of the tube 82 is provided with a plurality of connecting leads112. As shown in Figs. 8 and 9 these connecting leads may extend incriss'crossing relation in the tube to join the conducting elements inthe difierent slots with one another, This eliminates the necessity ofproviding the wiring connections between the circuit boards. It alsoallows free movement of the boards similar to the pages of an open bookstanding on its edge.

Due to the similarity of most of the circuit boards, it becomes veryeasy to connect the wrong board to the improper point on the support. Toprovide=for the positive interconnection of the circuit boards it may befound desirable to arrange each connector with intermeshing elementsarranged in a different pattern. That is, not only does each connectorhave a positive starting element as in Fig. 2, but also every connectormay be provided with an element of a different geometrical shape,positioned at a different point on the connector to assure the positiveinterconnecting. This arrangement will prevent damaging delicateequipment by connecting a low voltage circuit board to a pointof highvoltage.

It is, therefore, clear from the foregoing description that the presentinvention, by providing a slide fastener electrical connector for use aseither a connector or conhector-switch in various types of electricalcircuits, has improved the state of the art so that there results aneasily operated connector having a minimum of interaction between theleads along with the many other features and advantages.

Having therefore described detailed embodiments of the invention,setting forth their organization and their mode of operation, thosefeatures believed descriptive of the nature of the invention are definedwith particularity in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination comprising a plurality of insulating panels providedwith paths of electrically conductive material, a common supportingmember for said panels havenemas ing the form of a hollow cylinder,slots through the body of. said supporting member, a slot for each panelto be afiix ed, an electrical slide, fastener connector for each of saidpanels including a pair .ofelectn'cally insulating flexible carriermembers, one being secured to an edge of a panel and the other to saidsupporting member within a slot, a row of electrically conducting andinsulating fastener elements arranged in a pre-determined pattern andsecured in uniformly spaced relation along opposing edges of each ofsaid carrier members, said fastener elements haying elongated headsformed adjacent one of their ends and having coupling recesses andprojections, said fastener elementsfurther formed to present sliderguide surfaces, a slider me her arranged thereon for longitudinalmoyementtheregong forreleasable interlocking engagement of said :fatener elements with electrically conducting elements along one edge of apanel and contacting complementallike elements along theedgeofthefiexible carriermembe r attached to said supporting memberwithinaslo n andifiexible electrical conductors interconnecting selectedelectrically conducting fastener elements on the common supportingmember with one another.

e mbinat m imed nfin te: e in. alignment means are provided by. thefirstfastener elemeut on the flexible carrier member within theslot ofthe supporting member, comprising-omission of thoroupling recess in itshead.

3. The combination as claimed ,in-claim ZWhereinthe slots through thesupporting member are longitudinal;

References Cited in i the file of this :patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,123,513 Marinsky July;12, 1938- 2,496,925 Winterhalter Feb. 7', 1950FOREIGN PATENTS 200,046 Switzerland Sept, 30,11 938 235,841 SwitzerlandvApr, 16, 19.45; 351,500 Great Britain June .23; 1931 357,171 GreatBritain Sept, 10, 1931 640,618 France Apr, 2, 1928} 712,642 France July27, 1931'- UNIT-ED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PatentNo. 2,877,439 March 10,. 1959 Robert w. Avery- It is hereby certifiedthat error appears in the printed specification of the above numberedpatent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should readas corrected belo Column 1, line 33, for "result, the" read result, Theline 35, for "contacts and along" read contacts. Along line 36, for"misalignment, and" read misalignment is line 45, for inventiton" readinvention line 63, for "are" read is column 4, line 10, after "elements'strike out the comma; line 16, after "42" strike out the comma; line 25,for "serves" read serving line 66, strike out "been" column 5, line 61,for "disconnectibly" read disconnectively line 68, for complimentaryread complementary column 6, line 5, for "thet" read the line 36, forboard" read boards line 41, for "another," read another. line 58, for"pointof read point of Signed and sealed this 4th day of August 1959(SEAL) Attes't:

KARL H. AXLINE ROBERT Go WAT-SON Att'esting Officer Commissioner ofPatents UNI'I ED' STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 CERTIFICATE OF CGRRECTIONPatent No. 2,877,439 March 10, 1959 Robert W. Avery It s herebycertified that error appears inlthe printed specification i of the abovenumbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patentshould read as corrected below.

Column 1, line 33, for "result, the" read result The line 35 for"contacts and along" read contacts. Along line 36, for "misalignment,and" read misalignment is line 45, for "inventiton" read invention line63 for "are" read Q--- is column 4, line 10, after "elements" strike outthe comma; line 16, after "42" strike out the comma; line 25, for"serves" read serving line-66, strike out "been" column 5, line 61, fordis'connectibly read disconne'ctively line 68, for "complimentary" readcomplementary column 6, line 5, for "thet" read the line 36, for board"read boards line 41, for "another," read another. line 58',- for"pointof" read me point of Signed and sealed this 4th day of August1959,

(SEAL) Atteslt: KARL H, AXLINE ROBERT Ga WATSON Attesting OfficerCommissioner of Patents

